History of Arundel Castle History The Norman keep before restoration, by James Canter c.1770 There are nearly 1,000 years of history at this great castle, situated in magnificent grounds overlooking the River Arun in West Sussex and built at the end of the 11th century by Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Arundel. The oldest feature is the motte, an artificial mound, over 100 feet high from the dry moat, and constructed in 1068: followed by the gatehouse in 1070. Under his will, King Henry I (1068-1135) settled the Castle and lands in dower on his second wife, Adeliza of Louvain. Three years after his death she married William d'Albini II, who built the stone shell keep on the motte. King Henry II (1133-89), who built much of the oldest part of the stone Castle, in 1155 confirmed William d'Albini II as Earl of Arundel, with the Honour and Castle of Arundel.

Apart from the occasional reversion to the Crown, Arundel Castle has descended directly from 1138 to the present day, carried by female heiresses from the d'Albinis to the Fitzalans in the 13th century and then from the Fitzalans to the Howards in the 16th century and it has been the seat of the Dukes of Norfolk and their ancestors for over 850 years. From the 15th to the 17th centuries the Howards were at the forefront of English history, from the Wars of the Roses, through the Tudor period to the Civil War. Among the famous members of the Howard family are the 2nd Duke of Norfolk (1443-1524), the victor of Flodden, Lord Howard of Effingham, who with Sir Francis Drake repelled the Armada in 1588, the Earl of Surrey, the Tudor poet and courtier, and the 3rd Duke of Norfolk (1473-1554), uncle of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, both of whom became wives of King Henry VIII (1491-1547).

These were politically dangerous times: the 'Poet' Earl was executed in 1547; his father, the 3rd Duke of Norfolk only escaped the death penalty because King Henry VIII died the night before the execution was due and the 4th Duke (1536-72) was beheaded for plotting to marry Mary Queen of Scots. There have been two cardinals and a saint in the Howard family; St Philip Howard, 13th Earl of Arundel (1557-95) died in the Tower of London for his faith. By contrast, his son, the 'Collector' 14th Earl (1585-1646), as his nickname suggests, was responsible for many of the treasures which can be seen today. The results of all this history are concentrated at the Castle, which houses a fascinating collection of fine furniture dating from the 16th century, tapestries, clocks, and portraits by Van Dyck, Gainsborough, Mytens, Lawrence, Reynolds, Canaletto and others.

Personal possessions of Mary, Queen of Scots and a selection of historical, religious and heraldic items from the Duke of Norfolk's collection are also on display. During the Civil War (1642-45), the Castle was badly damaged when it was twice besieged, first by Royalists who took control, then by Cromwell's Parliamentarian force led by William Waller. Nothing was done to rectify the damage until about 1718 when Thomas, the 8th Duke of Norfolk (1683-1732) carried out some repairs. Charles Howard, the 11th Duke (1746-1815), known to posterity as the 'Drunken Duke' and friend of the Prince Regent subsequently carried out further restoration. Queen Victoria (1819-1901) came from Osborne House with her husband, Prince Albert, for three days in 1846, for which the bedroom and library furniture were specially commissioned and made by a leading London furniture designer. Her portrait by William Fowler was also specially commissioned by the 13th Duke in 1843.

The building we see now owes much to Henry,15th Duke of Norfolk (1847-1917) and the restoration project was completed in 1900. It was one of the first English country houses to be fitted with electric light, integral fire fighting equipment, service lifts and central heating. The gravity fed domestic water supply also supplied the town. Electricity cost over £36,000 to install, but the splendidly carved chimneypiece in the Drawing Room only cost £150! Duke of Norfolk | The Economist Duke of Norfolk The duke of Norfolk, an English survivor, died on June 24th, aged 86 Jul 11th 2002 Tweet AP MANY thousands of words have been written during the past couple of weeks about a soldier who inherited the title of the duke of Norfolk and with it the duties of earl marshal and chief butler of England. Readers of the Times were offered some 2,200 words. Newspapers catering for less patient readers made do with snappy accounts of the duke's soldierly habit of cleaning his own shoes. Perhaps that was enough to make a point.

The more distant you were from the world in which the duke moved, the more peculiar it seemed. The duke himself seemed aware of his title's growing irrelevance. He was perhaps the least ducal of the 17 holders of the title created by Richard III in 1483 (or possibly only 16; there is some dispute among the archivists). Succeeding by death, the duke said, was “a poor way of getting on” and he was prouder to have made his way to become a general. The duke upset some fellow members of the House of Lords by agreeing that those with inherited seats should no longer be involved in lawmaking, although he retained his own seat, as did the member who had the duties of the lord great chamberlain. His rebelliousness had its limits. Like many associated with archaic institutions, the duke was a charming contradiction. He epitomised old values, country, family, faith, without being stuffy about it. Tradition, he said, was one of the reasons that the country had not had a revolution since 1688 and had not been successfully invaded since 1066. That was a very British thing to say.

Whatever its merits as an argument, it expressed a sentiment that drives the enormously popular history programmes on British television and perhaps also drove the royal feeling that unexpectedly swept the country when the Queen Mother died in March, moving those of a republican mind to silence. For anyone seeking to explore, if not to understand, the appeal of “this sceptred isle”—a long-running programme on BBC radio—the career of the country's premier duke was at least worth a look. Into battle At birth he was merely the Honourable Miles Francis Fitzalan-Howard, “honourable” being a politeness conferred on the child of a lord. In what he called the “wavy line of the succession” he later became Lord Beaumont, then Lord Howard, and finally, when a distant cousin died, found that he had become the duke of Norfolk. “I was never sure what I would be called next,” he said. “Miles” usually sufficed. At the age of 22 he joined the Grenadier Guards (raised in 1656). Two years later, at the start of the second world war, his mother made the sign of the cross on his forehead and he went off to France in command of an anti-tank platoon.

He had an exemplary war, serving on the battlefields of Europe and North Africa. He gained a reputation for, in Hemingway's phrase for bravery, showing grace under fire. He stayed on in the army after the war until 1967 when he worked part time for Robert Fleming, a merchant bank with family connections. In his army days he had bought a house in Oxfordshire, and preferred it to the edifices he eventually inherited in 1975 as duke of Norfolk, particularly Arundel Castle in Sussex, the ducal seat, nearly 1,000 years old, brimming with history, but mostly comfortless. More agreeable was his duty as earl marshal, choreographing the annual opening of Parliament by the monarch, a ceremony largely unchanged since medieval times. Everyone agreed that he brought a soldierly efficiency to the event, in which he had to walk backwards before the queen without tripping. When his scarlet uniform became a bit tatty he asked Dennis Healey, the chancellor of the exchequer in the then Labour government, if it would pay for a replacement. Mr Healey nodded through the expense. The two men had first met fighting in Italy in the war.

He possessed robes that had been made for his great-great grandfather when a ban was lifted in 1829 on Roman Catholics sitting in Parliament. The survival of the Howard family in Protestant England dating from Henry VIII is regarded by historians as an example of tenacity and by many Catholics as miraculous. Some ancestors went under the axe, including Henry Howard, a Tudor poet much admired by the duke. Philip Howard was believed to have been poisoned and was made a saint. The duke was said to keep a book of prayers in his jacket. “We are like the British infantry in defence,” he said. “We never give in.” These days the politics of Christianity arouse little general interest in Britain. “We are all so ecumenical and love each other,” the duke said. “I am terribly ecumenical myself.” He disagreed with the Vatican's opposition to birth control, but so do many Catholics. “Has every wife got to have eight children like my mother?” he said, and his listeners agreed. He enjoyed an argument but didn't much care for parties. What he mostly liked was working in the open, repairing walls, managing woodland. “I wish I was thinning trees,” he was heard to say at a dinner party.

He told of a party he had given for European royals who stayed on until three in the morning. “You might have thought some people hadn't got palaces to go to,” he said. Next in The world this week X Next in The world this week X Next in Middle East and Africa X Next in Middle East and Africa X Next in Middle East and Africa X Next in Middle East and Africa X Next in Middle East and Africa X Next in Finance and economics X Next in Finance and economics X Next in Finance and economics X Next in Finance and economics X Next in Finance and economics X Next in Finance and economics X Next in Finance and economics X Next in Finance and economics X Next in Science and technology X Next in Books and arts X Next in Books and arts X Next in Books and arts X Next in Books and arts X Next in Books and arts X Next in Books and arts X Next in Economic and financial indicators X Next in Economic and financial indicators X Next in Economic and financial indicators X Next in Economic and financial indicators X Next in Economic and financial indicators X Next in Economic and financial indicators X Next in Economic and financial indicators X Next in Economic and financial indicators X Next in Economic and financial indicators X Arundel Castle : a seat of the Duke of Norfolk E.M.

: a short history and guide (Book, 1994) [WorldCat.org] The E-mail message field is required. Please enter the message. E-mail Message: I thought you might be interested in this item at Title: Arundel Castle : a seat of the Duke of Norfolk E.M. : a short history and guide Author: John Martin Robinson; Dukes of Norfolk Publisher: Chichester, Sussex : Phillimore, 1994. ISBN/ISSN: 0850339049 9780850339048 OCLC:32894060 The ReCaptcha terms you entered were incorrect. Please try to match the 2 words shown in the window, or try the audio version.

The Duke of Norfolk - Telegraph The Duke of Norfolk 12:11AM BST 26 Jun 2002 The 17th Duke of Norfolk, who has died aged 86, rose to the rank of major-general in the Army and was a non-executive director of a City merchant bank before inheriting the titles and duties of England's premier duke and Earl Marshal at the age of 59. He showed his mettle immediately, cancelling a plan to give the ducal seat, Arundel Castle, to the National Trust, and declaring that the horse racing which had interested his predecessor was "a mug's game". The ease of transition to his new status was all the more impressive for the fact that the inheritance had been no more than a possibility when he was young; the 16th duke (his second cousin once removed) was only seven years his senior, but he produced only daughters. The new Duke wore his inheritance lightly. No effort was required to inherit the dukedom, he declared; he was proud to have commanded the 1st Division of the British Army of the Rhine, a job for which he had had to work off his own bat.

"I have 10 seats in the House of Lords," he told a prep school audience, "and only one bottom to put in them." Norfolk was also a stalwart, if unsubtle, leader of the Roman Catholic community. A great friend of Basil Hume, the Duke was partly responsible for the relatively unknown schoolmaster becoming Archbishop of Westminster; he also urged the Vatican that Cormac Murphy O'Connor, his own diocesan bishop at Arundel, was the man to succeed Hume. Norfolk was also ready to support lay Catholics prepared to champion their own principles. When Ann Widdecombe was having trouble with constituents because of her opposition to hunting, he wrote a letter which was placed on the chairs at a critical meeting explaining that he disagreed with her on the issue but they were still fortunate to have her as their MP. Although generally a supporter of Margaret Thatcher, he differed from most of her awed colleagues in the Commons by speaking out forcibly when he thought she was wrong. He waged a successful campaign to prevent the Tory government introducing charges for children who travelled to school by bus.

As the flight from the underlying Christian assumptions of government increased under New Labour, the Duke led the battle in the Upper House against the lowering of the age of homosexual consent, the liberalisation of abortion law and the sanction of embryo research without considering the consequences. For all his outward appearance as the unassuming model of a retired major-general, Norfolk's piercing blue eyes gave clear evidence of a marked inclination for plain speaking, with a capacity for "putting his foot in it". He upset the Tories by calling for the abolition of the hereditary peers' right to sit in the House of Lords. He also prompted calls for his resignation as chairman of the Catholic Union, which represents his co-religionists' parliamentary interests, by criticising the papal encyclical banning artificial birth control. "How can you ask a married couple to do it by thermometer and what not? My wife and I did that, and it didn't bloody work." The Duke was exasperated when this supposedly private comment, made in a speech to a teachers' conference, was published.

Miles Francis Stapleton Fitzalan-Howard was born on July 21 1915, the eldest son of the 3rd Baron of Howard of Glossop and Baroness Beaumont, a peeress in her own right. He remained the Hon Miles Fitzalan-Howard throughout his military career, though he was unsure what he would be called next. He first succeeded his mother as the 12th Lord Beaumont in 1971, then his father as the 4th Lord Howard of Glossop in 1972, before becoming 17th Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Arundel, Surrey and Norfolk, Baron FitzAlan, Maltravers, Clun, Oswaldestre and Earl Marshal as well as premier Duke, premier Earl and Chief Butler of England in 1975. Fitzalan-Howard owed much to a happy childhood at Carlton Towers, Yorkshire, where he was one of a close-knit family of four sons and four daughters, all with names beginning "M"; he also gained much from his Benedictine education at Ampleforth. After obtaining a third in History at Christ Church, Oxford, he was commissioned into the 1st Grenadier Guards.

After the declaration of war, he and his brother Michael received the sign of the cross on their foreheads from their mother, then set off with the British Expeditionary Force to France. Commanding an anti-tank platoon, Miles Fitzalan-Howard took part in the defence of Louvain. He was mentioned in despatches at Dunkirk, where he took part in an impressive battalion parade, under fire, on the beaches; General Montgomery was so impressed that he sent Fitzalan-Howard and many of the officers to staff college. Later, while en route to Scotland as deputy assistant quartermaster general of the Guards Armoured Division, he discovered that his troops had been provided with no rations. He requisitioned Doncaster's station restaurant, and sent the bill to the War Office. In 1943 Fitzalan-Howard was part of the expedition sent to take Tangier as a substitute for Gibraltar in case Spain entered the war, and then was attached to the Eighth Army in North Africa. From there he was sent to Sicily and southern Italy, where his troops nicknamed him "Bloody Kilometers", a play on his Christian name.

Fitzalan-Howard was awarded an immediate MC for his role in the Battle of the river Sangro. "When the tanks were held up by mines and the operation was halted," read his citation, "Major Howard undertook several recces on foot and showed the greatest energy and coolness in complete disregard for the enemy fire, spreading cheer and optimism wherever he went." Promoted Brigade Major of 5th Armoured Brigade in Guards Armoured Division, he took part in the D-Day landings and was again mentioned in despatches. Major Fitzalan-Howard was then sent as British military attache to Washington where he met his future wife Anne Constable-Maxwell, daughter of the First World War flying ace Wing Commander Gerald Constable-Maxwell. They were married at Brompton Oratory in 1949. Fitzalan-Howard was commanding officer of 2nd Battalion, Grenadiers, in the Suez Canal zone in the run up to the war, then became head of the British military mission to the Russian Forces in Germany (BRIXMIS).

He had been appointed to the post as someone who would keep out of trouble after his predecessor had been declared persona non grata; but within weeks he quickly came to relish the mission's unofficial role. This involved crossing the Iron Curtain unarmed, but in uniform, in order to enter forbidden areas to steal parts of Soviet equipment and take photographs. He was stopped at least 10 times though, unlike his junior officers, he was never manhandled. Although surprised that the Soviet troops often seemed to know the British were coming, it was only years later that he realised that the Soviet spy George Blake, as an MI6 agent stationed nearby, had received copies of the mission's tour programme. From 1961 to 1963, Fitzalan-Howard commanded the 70th Brigade of the King's African Rifles, just before Kenya was granted independence. He threw himself into the job, learning Swahili and creating more than 100 black officers. After serving as GOC, 1st Division, Rhine Army, Fitzalan-Howard's final post was as director of Service Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence.

He had demonstrated a flair for administration which prompted a friend to remark that Fitzalan-Howard might have been born with a logistical spoon in his mouth; but he became so exasperated that he resigned, denouncing Whitehall red tape as "an absolute disgrace". Nevertheless, the job came back to haunt Fitzalan-Howard years later during the 1982 Irish general election, after he had praised the opposition leader Garret FitzGerald for supporting a Northern Ireland assembly and an amalgamation of southern and northern police forces. Charlie Haughey, a prime minister staring defeat in the face, suggested that FitzGerald had been collaborating with a British spymaster when he had lunched with the Duke. On retiring from the Army in 1967, Fitzalan-Howard worked two days a week as a non-executive director of the merchant bank Robert Fleming, with which several family members were connected. He enjoyed travelling to the Far East, and continued after coming into the title. He was once surprised, on emerging from a cloakroom cubicle at the bank's offices in Crosby Street during a bomb scare, to find some police officers who could not believe he was the Duke of Norfolk.

At the State Opening of Parliament, the Duke proudly wore robes made for his great-great-grandfather after the Catholic Emancipation Act (1829) permitted Catholics to sit in Parliament for the first time for almost 150 years. Although uncertain about the extent of his wealth, the Duke came into his titles aware that there was a need to make "Yorkshire" economies. Arundel Castle had been saved from the depredations of death duties by the Arundel Estates Act in the 1950s, but it was still too expensive to live in. The Duke guaranteed its future by forming an independent charitable trust - though one result was that he had to pay £10 a night to stay there. Nevertheless, the arrangement was copied at Chatsworth, Harewood and Wilton. He carried out admirable restoration work at both Arundel and at Carlton Towers, which was his real love. He restored medieval and Renaissance family tombs, and showed a keen interest in history, arranging a memorable celebration of the quincentenary of the dukedom in 1983. This included an ecumenical service in the Tower of London with the Archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinal Hume.

Scholars were also encouraged to research in the family archives, which were sorted and catalogued; the libraries were refurbished, the pictures cleaned. The Duke framed many of the prints himself. If he represented all that was best in the English hereditary principle it was because his disarming simplicity of manner went with a genuine modesty which would evince itself in surprising ways. After falling off a wall he went into an NHS hospital under the name Mr Miles Norfolk. When Evelyn Waugh's novel A Handful of Dust was filmed at Carlton Towers, he was an extra in the part of a gardener; Kenneth Rose remarked in The Sunday Telegraph that Norfolk lit a bonfire and touched his cap as if "to the cottage born". He liked to spend much of his time when not in London at a house at Hambledon, Oxfordshire, which he had bought while he was serving in the Army, and which was far smaller than Arundel or Carlton Towers. Even when dealing with fellow members of "the Establishment", he was aware of the limitations; he once rang the chairman of the BBC's governors from a phone box and had to explain that no, he was not calling from a pub.

The blunt manner, which meant an inclination to call a spade "a bloody shovel", could be disconcerting to new acquaintances. He once introduced to an astonished drawing room a very correct dowager, whose name he had momentarily forgotten, "You all know this old tartar, I'm sure." The Duke was happiest working with his own hands, repairing walls and chopping down trees. House parties tended to become press gangs to clear the underwood in distant plantations. "Grenadiers never stop when it rains," he would boom at flagging guests, as hailstones bounced off frozen hands and evening drew in. "I wish I was thinning trees", he would sometimes confide at a party or dinner. Above all, he was first and foremost a family man, kind and generous to his many relations; he and his brothers and sisters had 40 children between them. "We're not short of heirs in the Howard family," he would comment. The Duke was a devout Catholic. It was said that when his suits and military uniforms were being made, he insisted on there being enough room in the inside pocket for a Catholic missal. He was chairman of the trustees of the liberal weekly, the Tablet.

His many other public duties included a four-year stint as president of the Building Societies' Association and the prime wardenship of the Fishmongers' Company. He represented the Queen at the St Lucia independence celebrations, also at the funerals of Popes Paul VI and John Paul I as well as at the enthronement of the present Pope, who decorated him with the Order of Pius IX. He was appointed CB in 1960; CBE in 1966; KG in 1983; GCVO in 1986; and received the Royal Victoria Chain in 2000. He leaves two sons Edward, now the 18th Duke, and Gerald. There are also three daughters: Tessa, married to Roderick Balfour, great-nephew of the prime minister Arthur Balfour; Marcia, the actress Marsha Fitzalan, who was formerly married to the actor Patrick Ryecart; and Carina, married to Sir David Frost, the television personality.

Duke of Norfolk's niece calls for inheritance law change over castle and title | Daily Mail Online Share this article Share Speaking in this month's issue of Town and Country magazine, 39-year-old Lady Kinvara said: 'It runs through our DNA. 'Downton Abbey highlighted what I've seen all my life: the daughter is the disappointment. I've had primogeniture rubbed in my face from both side of my family.' Lady Kinvara Balfour, whose grandfather was the 17th Duke of Norfolk, has blasted inheritance law which means firstborn men inherit titles and estates, saying the 'bonkers' rule should be scrapped Speaking to Town & Country magazine, she said: 'Downton Abbey highlighted what I've seen all my life: the daughter is the disappointment.

I've had primogeniture rubbed in my face from both side of my family' Lady Kinvara (pictured front centre) said she is on good terms with her uncle, the current Duke, but would have liked the estate to have passed to her mother after the death of the previous Duke (pictured back centre) Had Lady Kinvara's mother, Lady Tessa, been born a boy then should would have inherited Arundel Castle, West Sussex, the traditional seat of the Norfolk dukedom THE RIGHT OF THE FIRSTBORN MALE CHILD TO INHERIT THE ESTATE Primogeniture is the right of the firstborn male child to inherit the family estate. The Normans introduced the common law to the UK in 1066. The law puts male children ahead of female children, irrespective of age. Variations on primogeniture have since modified the right of the firstborn son to the entirety of a family's inheritance. Ministers have also labelled the rules 'discriminatory', with further talks about changing the laws. Primogeniture was also applied to the British monarchy until October 2011. The move brought the UK in line with most European monarchies, who had already established an equal law of succession.

It also means the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's new daughter will not be usurped from fourth in line to the throne if the couple have any other boys. Now only Spain, Liechtenstein and Monaco are left with the old system. She is now calling for the laws to be scrapped, bringing them in line with the royal family. The constitution was amended in 2013 before the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's first child to ensure the throne would pass to them, whether it was a boy or a girl. Lady Kinvara added that she is on good terms with her uncle, the 18th Duke, and that he works incredibly hard to maintain the castle, but she feels the property should have passed to her mother. She said: 'I get nothing from whistleblowing. I simply believe that property and land should stay together and that a home should go to one person: the eldest born. 'I appreciate that to run Arundel Castle and all its land and all its game, its crops, its farms, is a huge, huge job.

But it's a huge job for anybody, so give it to the woman.' The castle dates back to the end of the 11th century when it was built by Roger de Montgomery, the Earl of Arundel, with the motte upon which it sits completed in 1068. The land was passed to Adeliza of Louvain, the second wife of Henry I, after he died, and then passed to William d'Albini II in 1138 when she remarried. Lady Kinvara called primogeniture 'archaic, mad and bonkers' and asked for it to be scrapped to bring it in line with the royal family (pictured, the Norfolk family tree) The full feature appears in Town & Country Summer 2015 issue, which is on sale May 5 Apart from the occasional reversion to the Crown, Arundel Castle has descended directly from 1138 to the present day. It was carried by female heiresses from the d'Albinis to the Fitzalans in the 13th century and then from the Fitzalans to the Howards in the 16th century.

It has been the seat of the Dukes of Norfolk and their ancestors for more than 850 years. Lady Tessa is the eldest of five siblings. Her younger sister, Lady Carina, is married to Sir David Frost, while third-born Lady Marcia is an actress. Edward, the current Duke, no resides at Arundel, and has a younger brother, Lord Gerald. Lady Kinvara, who describes herself as a entrepreneur, fashion writer, playwright and socialite, now lives in a flat in Earl's Court, west London. The full feature appears in Town & Country Summer 2015 issue on sale May 5 Read more: Ten dukes-a-dining: Gathered together over lunch for a unique picture, the grandees with £2bn and 340,000 acres between them | Daily Mail Online Ten dukes-a-dining: Gathered together over lunch for a unique picture, the grandees with £2bn and 340,000 acres between them comments At first glance, it might resemble the board meeting of a firm of auctioneers or a convention of prep school headmasters.

On closer inspection, it is actually a remarkable portrait of the grandest club in Britain, a super-elite who account for some 340,000 acres, more than £2billion and 4,505 years of aristocratic moving and shaking. Some owe their fortunes to bravery in battle, others to royal philandering or political chicanery. But they are all distantly related to each other and they are all addressed in exactly the same way: Your Grace. Outside the Royal Family, dukedoms have only ever been granted to a handful of men of power and influence. The assembled: (from left to right) 1. James Graham, 8th Duke of Montrose; 2. David Manners, 11th Duke of Rutland; 3. John Seymour, 19th Duke of Somerset; 4. Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of Northumberland; 5. Andrew Russell, 15th Duke of Bedford; 6. Edward Fizalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk; 7. Torquhil Campbell, 18th Duke of Argyll; 8.

Maurice FitzGerald, 9th Duke of Leinster; 9. Murray Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans; 10. Arthur Wellesey, 8th Duke of Wellington. See list below for details Dukes are just one rung down from royalty in the social pecking order and enjoy a special status way above the rank and file of the aristocracy. As peerages go, it's the jackpot. Today, there are just 24 non-royal dukes in existence, down from a total of 40 in their Georgian heyday. And it's fair to say that no modern monarch or government is likely to create any more. So, to celebrate its 300th birthday, Tatler magazine decided to invite this dwindling band of mega-toffs to a ducal lunch. The result was the largest gathering of dukes since the Coronation of 1953. Some were too frail to attend. Some live abroad. But ten of them gathered for oysters and Dover sole in London's clubland. And the result is this intriguing study of 21st century nobility.

'After 300 years, we wanted to recapture the spirit of the original Tatler, and what better than a room full of dukes,' says Tatler editor Catherine Ostler. Once, the holders of these titles would have been the A-list celebrities of their time. Today, most people would be pushed to name a single one of them. With hereditary peers cast out into the political wilderness, dukes might seem little more than a comic anachronism in modern Britain. While they retain their rank and social clout, their only power is financial. In the case of, say, the Duke of Bedford, this amounts to £500million in art, London property and a large slab of Home Counties commuter belt. As for the Duke of Leinster, whose grandfather ran a teashop, it is next to nothing. A very special edition: The picture appears in the November issue of Tatler magazine Yet many dukes still play an active part in public life. The Duke of Norfolk, as hereditary Earl Marshal, is still responsible for organising the State Opening of Parliament and any coronations which should occur. The Duke of Northumberland runs several public bodies across the North East while his wife is the local Lord Lieutenant.

The very first dukedom was a royal affair. In 1337, Edward III created his son, the Black Prince, the Duke of Cornwall. The title derives from the Latin dux - leader - and, throughout history, fewer than 500 British men have held the rank of 'Duke'. The last non-royal dukedom was created in 1900 for the former Earl of Fife, who was upgraded to Duke following his wedding to Queen Victoria's granddaughter. There might have been a new one in 1955 when the Queen offered one to Churchill, but he declined, preferring to die a commoner. The only non-duke at the Tatler gathering was historian Andrew Roberts, invited to chronicle the event. 'They're all related and they all stick up for each other,' he recalls. But he fears that dukes could become an endangered species. 'Not long ago, two important dukedoms - Newcastle and Portland - became extinct,' says the historian. 'So, my parting plea to the dukes was simple, even if it startled some of them.

I simply said: 'Keep procreating!' The Who's Who of Dukedom: 1 James Graham, 8th Duke of Montrose Age: 72. Title created: 1707. Other titles include Viscount Dundaff and Lord Aberuthven, Mugdock and Fintrie. Seat: Auchmar, a modest estate near Loch Lomond. Wealth: A high-ranking, but lower league landowner with 8,800 acres valued at around £1 million in 2001. History: The dukedom was awarded for supporting the Act of Union in 1707. The sixth Duke helped to invent the aircraft carrier during World War I. The present Duke spent part of his childhood in a mud hut in Rhodesia (where his father was building a farm). Instead of the usual Eton education, he attended Loretto School in Edinburgh - just like the Chancellor, Alistair Darling. 2 David Manners, 11th Duke of Rutland Age: 50. Title created: 1703. Other titles include Marquess of Granby and Baron Roos of Belvoir. Seat: Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire.

Wealth: Ranked 474th in the latest Rich List, he is valued at £115 million. Estates across Leicestershire (12,000 acres), Derbyshire (10,000 acres), Cambridgeshire (4,000 acres) and Lincolnshire (2,000 acres). History: While the main seat, Belvoir, is a magnificent 365-room pile with an underground railway and £100 million of art, the family also owns Haddon Hall in Derbyshire, widely recognised as one of Britain's finest medieval and Tudor manor houses. A previous Marquess of Granby (later the third duke) was a popular soldier and helped many of his men with their retirement, hence the number of pubs called the Marquess of Granby. 3 John Seymour, 19th Duke of Somerset Age: 56. Title created: 1547. His other title is Lord Seymour. Seat: Maiden Bradley, Somerset. Wealth: Around 5,000 acres of Somerset, including several villages. History: He is a descendant of Jane Seymour, Henry VIII's third wife.

The first Duke of Somerset, Edward Seymour, was Jane's brother. The family owns the fourposter oak bed in which Edward VI is said to have been conceived. Having rented out his main house at £50,000 a year, the Duke runs the estate from a smaller house in Devon. 4 Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of Northumberland Age: 52. Title created: 1766. Other titles include Earl Percy, Earl of Beverley, Baron Warkworth. Seat: Alnwick Castle, Northumberland. Wealth: With 132,000 acres, Syon Park in West London and a substantial art collection, he is valued at £300 million and ranked No. 178 on the latest Rich List. History: Part of the original Norman Conquest gang, the Percy family have been dominant in their part of the country for centuries. Alnwick Castle is the authentic knight-in-shining-armour fortress and has featured in Blackadder and the Harry Potter films. The present Duke recently sold a Raphael painting to the nation for £22 million, a deal which attracted controversy because of the use of Lottery funds.

The newly-refurbished Alnwick Garden is a major tourist attraction. 5 Andrew Russell, 15th Duke of Bedford Age: 47. Title created: 1694. Other titles include Marquess of Tavistock and Baron Howland Seat: Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire Wealth: Valued at £489million. Owns 23,000 acres and prime central London real estate. History: The first Duke fought on both sides in the Civil War and was ennobled after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The family has made Woburn Abbey a major tourist attraction and the present Duke is busy refurbishing much of the London estate (significantly smaller than it once was after much of it became part of London University). The family were stars of the BBC's Country House series. 6 Edward Fizalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk Age: 53. Title created: 1483. Other titles include Earl of Surrey and Baron Maltravers. Seat: Arundel Castle, West Sussex.

Wealth: Half his 30,000 acres are in leafy West Sussex, while the family also owns a ten-acre parcel of London valued at £100 million in 2001. History: As England's senior duke, Norfolk carries the hereditary title of Earl Marshal. As such, he plays an important role in running state occasions. The family's royal links stretch back centuries and the present Duke's wife, Georgina, stands in for the Queen at rehearsals of the State Opening of Parliament. The Duke's eldest son and heir, Henry, the Earl of Arundel, 21, is a promising Formula Three driver. 7 Torquhil Campbell, 13th Duke of Argyll Age: 41. Title created: 1701. Other titles include Marquess of Kintyre and Lorne, Viscount Lochow and Glenilla and Lord Morvern. Seat: Inveraray Castle, Argyllshire. Wealth: Family owns 60,000 acres of Scotland, valued at £12.5m in 2001.

History: The dukedom comes with plenty of baggage, including the hereditary posts of Master of HM's Household in Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland. The family suffered serious scandal in the Sixties, when the divorce proceedings of the 11th duke unearthed a famous photograph of his soon-to-be former wife with a mysterious naked man. The present duke, when not working in the whisky trade, is captain of the Scottish elephant polo team. 8 Maurice FitzGerald, 9th Duke of Leinster Age: 61. Title created: 1766. Other titles include Marquess of Kildare and Earl of Offaly Seat: Formerly Carton House, Co. Kildare. Now a farmhouse in Oxfordshire. Wealth: No landholdings of any note, the Duke works as a landscape gardener. History: The FitzGeralds assisted Edward I in his battles against the Scots. The family fortunes declined in the 20th century after the 7th Duke sold his interests in the family estates and was then declared bankrupt.

His fourth wife, with whom he opened a teashop in Rye in 1965, was the caretaker of the block of flats in which he lived. Educated at Millfield, the present Duke is president of the Oxfordshire Dyslexia Association. 9 Murray Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans Age: 70. Title created: 1684. Other titles include Earl of Burford, and Baron Heddington. Seat: A terrace house in Knightsbridge, London. Wealth: Never a great landowning family, the Beauclerks were said to own 4,000 acres, worth £12m, in 2001. History: The first Duke was the illegitimate son of Charles II and Nell Gwyn. Though the present Duke is a Tonbridge-educated chartered accountant, an eccentric strain still runs through family. His heir, the Earl of Burford, has long campaigned to prove his ancestor, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, was the true author of the works of Shakespeare.

In 1999, the young Earl was forcibly expelled from the House of Lords for jumping on the Woolsack and accusing the Government of treason in its expulsion of hereditary peers. 10 Arthur Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington Age: 94. Title created: 1814. Other titles include Prince of Waterloo, Duke of Vittoria and Earl of Mornington. Seat: Stratfield Saye House, Hampshire and Apsley House, London. Wealth: 7,000-acre Hampshire estate, 20,000 acres of Belgium and Spain. Thought to be worth £50m in 2001. History: Like the original Iron Duke, the present Duke had a long Army career, winning the Military Cross and reaching the rank of Brigadier. In later life, he has devoted himself to his estates and charities, coming top in Country Life's 'Good Duke Guide' in 1991. His heir, the Marquess of Douro, is a former Tory MEP while his daughter, Lady Jane Wellesley, was once talked of as a bride for the Prince of Wales.

More recent beaux include Melvyn Bragg and Loyd Grossman. Duke of Norfolk, Roman Catholic Leader, 86 - The New York Times The New York Times World |Duke of Norfolk, Roman Catholic Leader, 86 Search Duke of Norfolk, Roman Catholic Leader, 86 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Continue reading the main story Correction Appended The 17th Duke of Norfolk, who held the oldest dukedom in England, died on Monday at his home in Henley-on-Thames, west of London. He was 86. Staff members at Arundel Castle, his family seat in southern England, said the duke died in his sleep. The duke, Miles Francis Stapleton Fitzalan-Howard, succeeded a cousin in 1975. The dukedom was created in 1483 by King Richard III for John Howard, his loyal supporter in the Wars of the Roses. The dukes of Norfolk are considered the premier dukes because their title is the oldest. The Howards have been one of England's most prominent families for 500 years. They kept their Roman Catholic faith when King Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century.

The 17th duke was regarded as Britain's senior Catholic layman and was active in church matters. Like his predecessors, he was Earl Marshal of England, one of the great officers of state, who are senior members of the royal household. The earl marshal, whose position is now largely ceremonial, is responsible for state ceremonies like coronations and leads the College of Arms, which is the authority in England and Wales on genealogy and heraldry. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The duke was educated at Oxford University. He served in the army for 30 years and retired as a major general, having taken several appointments in the Ministry of Defense, including director of service intelligence in 1966-67. In World War II he served in France, North Africa, Sicily and Italy and was awarded the Military Cross for reconnaissance of mined roads on foot under enemy fire. He remarked in later years that ''anyone can be Duke of Norfolk, but I'm rather proud of that medal,'' The Times said in its obituary.

The duke is survived by his wife of more than 50 years, the former Anne Constable-Maxwell; two sons, Edward, the Earl of Arundel, who succeeds him, and Gerald; three daughters, Tessa Balfour, Marsha Fitzalan, an actress, and Carina, who is married to the television personality Sir David Frost. Correction: July 11, 2002, Thursday An obituary by The Associated Press on June 27 about the 17th Duke of Norfolk, who held the oldest dukedom in Britain, referred incompletely to the title's origin and the religious affiliations of some of the titleholders. The title originated in the 14th century, not the 15th. It was created in 1397 by Richard II and conferred on Thomas Mowbray. After the Mowbray line died out, it was re-established in 1483 by Richard III and bestowed on John Howard. At various times over the centuries, the Howards renounced their Roman Catholic faith for the Church of England; they did not remain Catholic when Henry VIII broke with Rome in the 16th century.

Question: What is the seat of the Duke of Norfolk?
Answer: Arundel Castle